Saturday, November 14, 2009

The east coast, carpal tunnel and snow

Dear friends,My Trip to the East CoastI am back from my trip. I had a wonderful time on the east coast. I had a wonderful time sharing about the ministry of Partners International. I was able to share about many of our partners working throughout the 10/40 Window. A few times meetings lasted for over 3 hours! I shared in 3 churches, visited with 4 and got to visit friends and family, including many on our support team. It was wonderful to catch up with many friends. There is nothing that takes the place of personally connecting. Thanks to all of you who took the time for a visit with me!Together with Greg's parents, I got to see a family of 5 bob cats right outside the back of their house. Two adults and 3 kits. Wow. I think that is pretty rare. This isn't the clearest picture, but I think you can tell that it is a bobcat.I will say that the use of Partners' Garmin made the trip so much easier for me as I drove alone. That GPS is a true feat of engineering! It guided me through Baltimore, around central and eastern PA, upstate NY, northern NJ and then across NJ back to Baltimore. And God provided a significant discount toward my car rental fee through a brother in Christ. That was a direct answer to prayer. Thank you, friend!Carpal TunnelIt has been a week since I had my carpal tunnel release surgery. I am doing well. I thought you might like to hear how it went. I was preped like other surgeries, but obviously not with as much detail. My nurse is my now friend, Shirley. She has just finished her breast cancer treatment. We connected quickly as we shared stories. Our hearts connected deeply on issues we both understood about adjusting from being a patient to being a survivor. She also knew how to start an IV on my right hand without giving me lymphodema problems.My friend Sue came back for a few minutes and then went to the waiting room. I met with the surgeon who explained what he was going to do in more detail and assured me it would take less than 10 minutes. He was going to make a small incision near the bottom of my palm, where the nerves to the hand pass through the carpal tunnel. My tunnel had become inflamed and was pinching the nerve. Eventually, this kind of nerve constriction would kill the nerve to the hand. He would insert a tool into that incision that would tunnel down a ways toward my wrist and "release" (cut apart) the tendon or ligament that crosses over the top of the tunnel. This makes the passageway for the nerve to the hand 40% bigger and releases the pressure. There are no adverse affects to doing this, and it solves a very big problem.The anesthesiologist met with me also and explained that he was going to give me Versed while the nerve block was being put into my right wrist, then they would turn off the Versed and by the time I woke up, they would be done.So, before I knew it, it was all done. I was able to leave in an hour. I was very awake and comfortable. My hand was wrapped and was numb until late afternoon. My hand was very sore that night and the next morning, but by evening the second day, it felt much better. The next day I took off the wrapping and took a shower and put a band aid on my little incision.I have been doing gentle exercises of opening and closing my hand all week and get my stitches out on Monday. Even as soon as Saturday, I could tell that the carpal tunnel symptoms were gone. No tingling, numbness or that kind of pain up my arm or in my hand. I was able to knit some by Monday. If I had a desk job, I would have been able to resume work in a few days.I know a lot of friends who have problems with carpal tunnel and who try and avoid the things that cause the problem to flair. This procedure was pretty simple to solve the problem without having all the discomfort and pain. They used to do this in a much more complicated way, but now it is fairly simple. So there you have my experience. I did make my hand hurt on Tuesday when putting a sheet on the bed, but it is doing well again. The procedure was called "Carpal Tunnel Release."SNOWYesterday we got a very small amount of snow. Adjua, our international student from Ghana, who is living with us while she attends Whitworth, is marveling at the phenomenon. It took her weeks to get used to wearing sweaters and light jackets. The idea of wearing a bulky jacket does not compute, and so far, even at 38 degrees she won't wear one. She feels like it makes her look too fat. I never thought before how different it is to be somewhere cold when you have grown up at the equator. She has the coats, hats, scarves, boots and gloves to wear, but we will have to see how long it takes her to get used to the idea of wearing them.FAMILYGreg is back from the mountains without anything to fill the freezer, but so glad for his time by himself with the Lord. He cherishes these times every year. Partners is again this month seeing low numbers as he expressed in our recent Yahoo update. (If you want to be on that list, email him at gregf@partnersintl.org) Please pray for God's wisdom for him and the other leaders.Laura was just offered a severance package by AT&T, and feels that since she was praying to get laid off, that she should go ahead and do it. Although college is paid off, she was hoping for some more time to build up her savings so she would be able to investigate other possibilities for ministry. That luxury is now not possible. She would love to go to URBANA, but can't because of the cost. It would cost close to $700 for her to go, and she just doesn't have the money.Allison is with us at least until Christmas. After much prayer, she has settled on the decision to go back to school for a 15-16 month nursing degree. She gave teaching a fair chance and feels like her gifting would be better used in nursing. She might end up teaching nursing someday since she already has an education degree. She would also see her training in Elementary Ed. being very helpful in pediatric nursing. She is sending an application to John's Hopkins today and will also be applying other places. Currently she has a part time job at the mall to pay for college loans.Jenni is still studying in France and is enjoying her experience very much. She has been able to do a lot of traveling on the weekends to places all over Europe. She comes home Dec. 21st.Jesse is in community college currently, and this weekend is serving with his national guard unit doing training- in the snow. His old, old car has totally kicked the bucket. Allison was given that car by a ministry in Denver called God's Cars in '05, and it had over 200,000 miles then! It served her for student teaching in college and since, until it has become the vehicle he and Allison are using to get to work and school. You might realize that this means that the car I use, has become the Fritz family shuttle. We would love for you to join us in praying for God's provision for a vehicle for Allison. Whichever way she goes, she will have to have a car. God has been faithful in the past, and He is Jehova Jira. Jesse won't need a car after March 1st, since that is when he goes to bootcamp.I (Nancy) am doing some projects for church for Angel Tree, driving our kids all over the city, including Adjua to college as well, I taught two college classes for Greg while he was gone. I taught on "Ministering to Children Cross-Culturally." I am meeting with those planning our regional missions conference that is scheduled for next fall. I will be helping to lead the children's track and miscellaneous other tasks. I am leading a group of women at church for a Beth Moore Bible study, and will be helping with a church kids Christmas program. I am serving on the missions commission at our church, and on Wednesday this week I honestly woke up at 5:04 p.m., and then slept all that night as well. So, in between my various projects, resting happens. I am doing felting of wool items and knitting as my hobby of choice in my spare time currently.So, thank you for your interest and for any prayers you offer up for Partners and our familyBlessings, Nancy Fritz nancyfritz@aol.com 509-990-8465

About Me

Nancy is the wife of Greg and mother of Laura, Allison, Jenni, and Jesse. Her passion is for the gospel to be taken to the ends of the earth. She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in April 1999 and was in remission for seven years before her 2006 metastasis. Now she is a 14 year survivor and is passionate to use every day as the gift it is, doing what the Lord puts before me.